Brief History of Dragon Boating

Dragon Boats appear according to my knowledge, on ancient cave paintings found in China and being back dated for more than 5,000 years. It is delivered that in the very ancient times the boats where used for ceremonial and recreational purposes, never ever for any kind of war purposes and also not for daily transportation usage.

Many of those ancient ceremonies took place in late springtime, around May to June according to the Western Calendar. That’s the time when the climate in China becomes warm and humid and with that the dangers of diseases and heavy rainstorms causing flooding and destroying harvests becoming more eminent. In order to plea for getting well over the summer, ceremonies pleasing the dragons, the most superior beings in Chinese culture, seemed to be just the right thing to do.

Bringing up the racing with Dragon Boats where the events happening around and with Qu Yuan. At his time he was a very popular minister and poet under the King of Chun during the Waring States period in China. Many others ministers didn’t like Qu Yuan so much, because he was the most favored king’s adviser. So they worked successful on getting him into miss-credit. As all the other existing kingdoms also Chun, - not taking advise from Qu Yuan anymore -, was defeated by Chin who then formed one big empire, CHINA.

However, after that defeat Qu Yuan was sent to exile where he wrote probably one of the most important poems for later poetry, the Li Sao which translates: The Lament. Full of sadness about what happened to him and his state, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Mi Lo River in today’s Hunan Province. People rushed out in boats to either attempt to rescue him or to save his corpse. Drums where hit to scare away the fish that might take a bite on the beloved man.

Since then every year this rescue attempt was memorized by holding boat races on that day. These races soon turned into Dragon Boat Races and spread allover China but mainly to the South where more waters provide the opportunity.

In modern times, under troubled rules in China, the sport then started spreading across the world, not only but mainly, via Hong Kong as the gateway to and from China. This was some 30 years ago and is known as the Modern Era of Dragon Boating.

Today it seems that the tremendous growth of the sport since then was only the beginning. In Western Countries annual rates are in approach to almost 30% per year. Far more than 50 million people in almost 60 countries participate in this unique sport, which once might become an Olympic discipline.

One of the things possibly fascinating people so much might be the fact, that Dragon Boats are a connection to very ancient traditions in modern times. Dragon Boats never needed to undergo big changes or developments since they never have been daily life vehicles like canoes or sailing boats.
By this they remain a pure heritage from the past demanding a total team spirit from the crews on board. It is only in the last few years and the sport becoming more attractive in western countries that the materials are changing from wood to glass-fiber.

To read more, check the other articles on this web page or, I’m not getting tired of saying that, read my book: Hong Kong – Mother of Dragons.

Henning Wiekhorst

Brief History of Outrigger Canoeing

Outrigger canoes were originally developed by the Austronesian speaking peoples of the islands of Southeast Asia for sea travel, and were used to transport these peoples eastward through to Polynesia and New Zealand during the Austronesian migration period. Even today, it is exclusively among the Austronesian groups (Malay, Micronesian, Melanesian and Polynesian peoples) that outrigger canoes are used.

When Magellan's ships first encountered the Chamorros of the Mariana Islands in 1521, Antonio Pigafetta recorded that the Chamorros' sailboats far surpassed Magellan's in speed and maneuverability. In fact, the Micronesian sailing canoe, the proa, was the fastest sailing vessel in existence well into the 20th century.

The technology has persisted into the modern age. Outrigger canoes can be quite large fishing or transport vessels, and in the Philippines, outrigger canoes (called "bangka or "banca") are often fitted with gasoline engines.

Outrigger canoe racing has become a popular canoeing sport, with numerous clubs located around the world.